Top 10 Website SEO Checklist 2018 That You Should Do (Right Now!

1. Make sure your theme is mobile-friendly. Google’s algorithm favors mobile optimized
websites. Luckily for you most of the themes are built this way today. If your theme is more
than five years old, you might want to check. Look at your site from your phone. Now rotate
from portrait to landscape. Did the site resize? Now check if you have to use the thumb and
forefinger to expand your text to read it. If you didn’t pass these tests you’re not mobile
friendly! Pro developer tip: Also think that people will be finger touching and scrolling, not
clicking using a mouse, so use just one column with no sidebars.

2. Install the Moz Bar Chrome Extension. This handy extension will allow you to check some
other things on this list, so get it right now! It’s free. Just Google “Moz Chrome Extension”
while using the Chrome browser and install it. It will be a little black button with a “M”on it. Go
to your website, and while on the home page click on the “M” button, then go to the left side of
the drop down and click on the green floppy disk icon (remember those?) to perform some free
and important SEO checks.

3. Is your site have a SSL certificate? Look at your site where you input the url and see if you
have the “little green padlock”. This is a google ranking factor. Most hosting companies now
include or will sell you a single site SSL certificate.

4. Using the Moz bar, check your titles, H1’s and H2’s to see if they are the correct lengths
(titles should be around 65-75 characters and Meta descriptions should be around 150) Also
your H1 can be your brand or kw or both and if you are using your main keywords. Check this
for each page of your site. This is what I do for an SEO audit and is the most common problem.
Pro developer tip: install the basic (free) Yoast SEO plugin which will help you write meta
descriptions (aka “snippets”).

5. Using the Moz bar, are you putting your main keywords bold? This is important because it
gives those words emphasis to Google, and help them figure what your site is about. Don’t
think of using bold as a style element for the reader, think of using bold for getting people to
find you online for your main article, product or service.

6. Give your site the “five second” test. Have a stranger at Starbucks look at your site quickly
and see if they can tell you what your site is about. If they can’t it’s a red flag!

7. Run Google Page Speed Test and see what your load time is. Moz bar will show you this
too, but it’s not as accurate as having Google run it. Your site should load time under 2 secs.
Any longer it’s a problem, especially on mobile devices using cellular.

8. Use Moz bar and click over to see if your site has Schema Markup installed. Chances are
you do not. I rarely SEO Audit a site that has it. Schema markup is so Google better
understands what your site is about. Use a plugin like JSON-LD to help you write it, or hire a
SEO pro to do it for you.

9. Is there a call to action on the home page, above the fold? It’s super important to give
visitors your main CTA without making them scroll to find it. It should be a large contrasting
color button front and center that can t be missed.

 10. Content is king! Google loves lots of content, so have lots of words on all your pages. The
latest best practice in 2018 is to have 2500 words! Start paragraphs early on with keywords,
and have other latent semantic keywords sprinkled throughout your text. What are LSI
keywords you ask? It’s the “related searches” at the bottom of a Google Search Result Page
(SERP). Or use free tools like LSIgraph.com or answerthepublic.com

11. Bonus pro tip: do not write your content using Word, or in the word press editor. It adds
too much bad extra stuff! Write articles in Evernote, notes, or notepad, then cut and paste into
WordPress. This way you get an exact word count (this article is exactly 753 words) and you
can check spelling and grammar before you post it.

Are you having trouble navigating the constantly changing and complex
world of digital marketing? Do you have a website that gets zero traffic and
no customers? You’re not alone. I’ve consulted with hundreds of
businesses who are having a hard time finding clients online. The ones who
have taken action with my advice are now crushing it online!

Hi, I’m Dave Michael, owner of Spectrum Marketing. I specialize in helping

website owners and business make use of all the fantastic tools and best
practices to be found online. I know all the platforms and techniques that
get results in 2018.

Contact me for a free 30 minute consultation either on the phone, or at your

favorite coffee shop. (916) 251-9669 or dave@spectraseo.com